In response to a request by a consortium of Japanese television stations and entertainment groups, YouTube, Inc. agreed to remove nearly 30,000 files from its website that were alleged to be copywritten by Japanese entities. Research performed by the Japan Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers identified over 29,000 video clips on YouTube that were posted without requisite permissions from the copyright holders in Japan. According to the Yahoo! Article below, most of the videos posted on YouTube are homemade, but there are also "scores" of copywritten material available on YouTube. YouTube has a specific policy to remove copywritten materials once a complaint is received, but it is also noted in that article that since Google recently acquired YouTube for $1.65B in stock, YouTube may be subject to a number of copyright lawsuits. According to YouTube's Terms of Use, its users may not "submit material that is copyrighted, protected by trade secret or otherwise subject to third party proprietary rights, including privacy and publicity rights, unless [the user is] the owner of such rights or have permission from their rightful owner to post the material and to grant YouTube all of the license rights granted herein." It is reported that over 100 million video clips are viewed on YouTube each day.

Yahoo! News Article: LINK
YouTube Website: LINK
YouTube Terms of Use: LINK
YouTube Community Guidelines (including copyright references): LINK
YouTube's Press Release Regarding Google Acquisition: LINK